iPhone 5 Hands-On Metareview: Does Apple’s Latest Phone Hold Up?

The iPhone 5 hasn’t yet hit store shelves, but some prominent tech journalists got a chance to smear their greasy fingerprints all over the new iPhone’s 4-inch screen during Apple’s keynote announcement yesterday.



The overall impression of the iPhone five was mixed. Some of the reviewers came away from the sneak peek feeling lukewarm: “It’s not as earth-shatteringly different than the iPhone 4S, to be sure.” wrote Tech Crunch’s John Biggs. Slashgear’s Vincent Nguyen, on the other hand, was enthralled with Apple’s design, “even if you’re not an iOS fan, you’ll have to appreciate the package Apple has put together.” Wired’s Christina Bonnington split the difference with, “It’s terrific, but nothing that will blow your mind-hole.” What these reviewers may agree on is that the iPhone 5 is a solid phone, but it’s one that we’ve figuratively and literally seen bits and pieces from before.

One of the biggest selling points of the iPhone 5 is the expanded 1136 by 640 IPS ‘Retina’ display, and here there was consensus. Engadget’s Darren Murph marvelled, “Apple’s not holding back when it calls it the “world’s most advanced display.”" Bonnington agreed: “The extra screen real estate gives you more room to appreciate it.” Nguyen’s review captures the improvements Apple has made to the phone’s display: “It looks somehow crisper and cleaner, and it’s bright, even under the lights of Apple’s demo area. The anti-glare coating certainly helps there.” Considering bright lights are a weakness of its rivals’ AMOLED displays, Apple might have found a winning formula in its LCD technology.



If what you care about most about is raw specs, you’ll wonder if the reviewers noticed a speed bump on the new iPhone. Murph noticed that “at a glance, it’s definitely quicker than the chip in the 4S. … Use it for half an hour and you’ll have a hard time going back to a slower chip.” The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky agreed that the A6 chip felt “noticeably faster than the iPhone 4S.” Biggs wasn’t blown away by the difference. Nguyen, however, reserved judgement for the benchmarks.

The camera was given a spec bump, but the results from the hands-on demonstrations are inconclusive. While Bonnington felt she wasn’t able to put the phone through its paces, she did find that “the new Panorama mode is easy to use”. Nguyen was mainly impressed by the lack of shutter lag.

As for the slimmed down phone’s glass and aluminum build quality, the consensus is it’s excellent as usual. Murph was outright impressed with the feel of the phone; “there’s no doubting the premium fit and finish when you clutch one of these things.” “It’s actually lighter than plasticky Samsung phones like the Galaxy S III,” wrote Bonnington, “yet it doesn’t feel cheap.” . It’s a premium machine to be sure, though Topolsky worries, “it feels almost too light in the hand.”